From the blog

Set to perform to a capacity crowd at Scotland’s Largest Free Youth Music Festival, acts from the length and breadth of Scotland have been announced today to play the Upload Stage at Youth Beatz 2018. The successful acts were selected from a number of very strong performers by a judging panel of industry professionals and young people.

This year’s Youth Beatz festival, that kick-starts the school summer holidays across Scotland with a capacity crowd of 40,000 people over 2 days on Saturday 30 June and Sunday 1 July, celebrates its 10 year anniversary and is a key event in Scotland’s Year of Young People 2018.

Local acts from across Scotland entered the competition by uploading their demo track to the Youth Beatz website and then progressed to live audition where they gave it their all to impress the judges and young people, securing the coveted slot on the insert day/date of performance in front of the capacity crowd.

The event is managed through a partnership led by Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Young Peoples Service, in conjunction with the Oasis Events Team. Formed in 2010, the Oasis Events Team have undergone a great deal of training and events experience and now work in close partnership with Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Young Peoples Services staff to co-design large scale events, such as Youth Beatz. The Events Team are also now training up the new youth members of the group in a peer led approach.

Connor Stenton, member of the Oasis Events Team said “This is the first year we have run a competition like this for Youth Beatz and it has been great to see the quality and range of talent Scotland has to offer. From the demos we received right through to the live performances, it’s been brilliant to see the way the acts have presented themselves – if that’s anything to go by, the Upload stage will be the place to be at Youth Beatz!”

Event organisers have also announced today that The Upload Stage at Youth Beatz is being presented by Dumfries’s local radio station – Alive Radio 107.3FM. The local station began with the aspiration to be a positive and encouraging local radio station has grown quickly over the years. It is a voluntary body and a registered charity, whose aim is to build community spirit and help people feel good about Dumfries.

Speaking about the new partnership with Youth Beatz for Scotland’s Year of Young People 2018, Graham Anderson, the Thursday drivetime presenter at Alive Radio, said, “I’m looking forward to hosting the Upload Stage all weekend. I can’t believe the event has been running for 10 years already. The talent that is confirmed to play the Upload stage is fantastic – it’s going to be a great weekend!”